German Patent Disclosure Document 35 01 389 describes an apparatus which uses a plurality of turning bars located above each other in a row, and spaced uniformly from each other. Each one of the turning bars has a deflection roller associated therewith. All the deflection rollers are located laterally next to the turning bars. This greatly interferes with accessibility to the turning bars. When two webs have to be handled by this apparatus, the paths of the webs are comparatively long and complex, since spatially separated sets of turning bars or rods are necessary if one web portion is to be introduced between two web portions of a different web.